[Marxism] Orange and Green (addendum)

[james daly]

That must have been the shortest hymn in history. Here is something more 
worthy of the title. (Sorry for the delay -- been very busy lately)

 Addendum

In bourgeois political circles the best approach to the loyalists was shown 
by Charlie Haughey.  He failed to get the leadership of Fianna Fail, which 
fell to Jack Lynch, of whom the British ambassador Sir John Peck said in his 
memoirs that he was the right man at the right time. Lynch damaged the 
situation irreparably, and Fianna Fail and Haughey were very weak and 
vulnerable when he finally became Taoiseach.  Nevertheless Haughey 
negotiated the Anglo Irish agreement with Maggie Thatcher "over the heads of 
the Unionists" -- the Trilateralist member and future President of the 26 
counties Mary Robinson left the Labour Party in protest.

Haughey's feelings on the question of national liberation were genuine --  
his parents were driven out of their home in the six counties by loyalists 
in the 20s.  In 1945 as a student in UCD Haughey climbed the Trinity College 
flag pole to pull down the Union Jack the Ascendancy college had run up to 
celebrate their masters' VE day  (Victory of England ).  As Taoiseach he 
supported Argentina against Britain on the grounds of anti-imperialism, 
against furious opposition from Garret FitzGerald who called for loyalty to 
Britain.

Haughey protested against the enormous cost of maintaining "a border we 
never wanted".  At a British border checkpoint he told an interviewer "It 
makes my blood boil to be stopped like this in my own country".  Contrast 
Bono: he told his interviewer that he and the others were very scared coming 
up in their van to a border check point, until a British officer exclaimed 
in a posh accent "Good Lord! It's Bono!", when all became beaming sweetness 
and light.   Nothing about those who weren't so well received.

A meeting of Haughey's parliamentary party dominated by anti-Republicans 
vetoed help he had promised to the hunger strikers' relatives.  In his last 
period of office Haughey was finally uttering the words "a unitary state", 
which if they had been spoken by all Republicans decades before, when 
Unionists were international pariahs, might have signalled a leadership 
which could have led to a united Ireland.

Hindsight and economic determinism are powerful tools.  A lot of attention 
is being paid at the moment to the differences between Obama and Clinton, 
and their possible consequences -- why not Haughey?  Does anyone think 
Paisley didn't have a big influence on the recent history of Ireland?



---- Original Message ----- 

From: "Einde O'Callaghan" <einde at gmx.de>
To: "James Daly" <james.irldaly at ntlworld.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 5:50 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Orange and Green (addendum)


 james daly schrieb:....


Einde wrote

I don't know why you are singing a hamn of praise to Charlie Haughey of
: all people, one of the most spectacularly corrupt politicians in Irish
: history, but one well adept at playing the nationalist card when it
: suited him.
:
: The Irish bourgeoisie has had absolutely no interest in achieving Irish
: unity at least since the the mid-70s. Better to leave a destabilising
: influence that would eat a hole in the national finances in the hands of
: the Brits, which would of course also allow them to play the bourgeois
: nationalist card at will without any risk.


.